House of Stories: Tales from the Chatsworth Library

Description

The Devonshire family have been passionate readers, collectors, and champions of literature since the 17th century.  Through seventeen generations, they have assembled one of Britain’s most important private book collections, preserving rare first editions, exquisitely decorated books, and personally annotated volumes, with works of fiction, poetry, and drama playing a key part in this remarkable collection.

This is the first time that Chatsworth is showcasing some of the most treasured literary works from the Chatsworth Library shelves. 

Through rare books, manuscripts and letters, combined with furniture and artworks, the exhibition explores a house alive with stories. We explore the extensive literary networks surrounding Chatsworth and give an insight into the role that literature and reading have played within the family. 

The exhibition takes place during the 2026 National Year of Reading and will be supported throughout the season by events, talks and workshops. 

Works of note on display include: 

• Letters from Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Brontë and William Thackeray. 
• Francesco Petrarca, Il Petrarca (Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1514). Gifted to Duchess Georgiana by her brother, Earl Spencer. 
• John Milton, Paradise Lost. A Poem in Ten Books (London: T. Helder, 1669) 
• Ben Jonson, Pleasure Reconcil'd to Vertue, scribal manuscript (1618) accompanied by Hercules' Bowl-Bearer, Inigo Jones, pen and ink.
• Geoffrey Chaucer, Fragment of a manuscript of The Canterbury Tales (Man of Law's Tale) 
• William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, Handbook of Chatsworth and Hardwick (London: Frederic Shoberl Jr., [1845]), extra-illustrated copy.